Allergies

The symptoms of nasal allergies are much like cold symptoms, runny nose, watery eyes, cough, congestion, sneezing, it can be hard to tell the difference, between an allergy and a simple cold. The main indications for allergy as appose to cold are when your child is suffering from one or more of the symptoms below, to confirm your suspicions of allergy or if you are concerned its best to check it out with a G.P. Common symptoms of allergies are if:
it seem like your child always has a cold
the mucus that drains from their nose is clear and thin as opposed to yellow or greenish and thick
they sneeze a lot
their eyes are itchy, red, and watery
they have a dry persistent cough
their nose is always stuffy or running
their skin is irritated or broken out in an itchy red rash

Causes of allergies
An allergy simply an immune response to something in the environment; these substances are known as an allergen. When a child with allergies comes into contact an allergen either through touching it, breathing it, eating it, or having it injected their body views the allergen as an invader and releases histamines and other chemicals to fight it, these chemicals irritate the body and cause the symptoms that you see.

Different people can be allergic to almost anything but the most common are food, drugs, animal fur, dust mites, feathers, meld, and pollen. It depends upon the allergy as to what type of immune response will occur it can cause, respiratory symptoms, skin symptoms, like eczema, or stomach problems usually from food allergies.

How do you find out what your child is allergic too?
Trying to establish what a child is allergic can be very simple or very difficult and in some cases takes a long time or you may be lucky and find it straight away, it is important to keep tack or when reaction occur and try to establish some kind of pattern. Doing this will help your doctor to decide what tests if any are needed, the most commonly used is a skin test. The skin test can establish what a child is allergic to and then a treatment can hopefully be found.

How to help
The most important thing you can do to help your child is reduce their exposure to the allergen, once you find out what the allergen is of course.

If your child is allergic to nuts or something which has an extreme reaction like that remember to tell everyone they come into contact with, it is mind-blowing how many things contain nuts or are made in factories that produce nuts it is really hard but important to check every label and ensure that everyone else does the same before giving it to your child!.

If the allergy is feather or down it is best to have non allergenic pillows duvets and a plastic mattress protector over. If it is dust mites, they live in fabrics and carpets and are common in every room of the house, especially the child’s bed room it is advised that you try to
Buy washable quilt and pillows. Wash bedding once a week in hot water to kill dust mites, washable quilts and covers are available everywhere.
Avoid having stuffed animals in your child's room they collect dust, if there are some that they love wash them as often as you can get them out of their hands or put them in the freezer overnight, cold also kills the mites.
Dust everyday or as often as you can and vacuum everything including the mattress weekly, but make sure your child isn't in the room when you do it. The action of dusting and vacuuming can stir up residual dust-mite particles in the room. Wet dusting and buying a special hover with a hepa filters can help.
If your toddler has a severe dust mite allergy, replace the carpeting with wood and clean as often as possible but not when they are in the room as we have said.
If your child has a pollen allergy try to keep them inside on high pollen days, we know this is very hard but when they do go out once they return it helps to have a shower to remove pollen and to wash the clothes that they were wearing. You may also think about having an air purifier to help cut down the allergens in the house. Try to keep doors and windows closed, that includes in the car.

Your G.P may prescribe antihistamines for your child so it is worth visiting the doctor if the symptoms persist.

For more information go to Allergy UK at www.allergyuk.org or call 01132 619898